digital certificate

DaneBrooke · 01-22-2008, 02:49 PM

Until recently I was running Windows 98, and had obtained a digital certificate for signing/encrypting my email. When I upgraded, none of my mail s/w (I use Thunderbird almost exclusively, but tried others) or certificate management s/w could find a valid certificate for me. So I went to Comodo to obtain one, but the process errored out "a digital certificate has already been issued to dnbrooke at msn dot com. Well, apparently I can't have more than one (and I did have one) but I can't find it anywhere, so how am I to proceed? I don't even recall the original issuing authority, but I don't think it was Comodo.

**Cellus** · 01-22-2008, 05:07 PM

If you can not obtain your old digital certificate, it would probably be a good idea to revoke the old one from the CA and obtain a new one.

It is a principle security measure in limiting one cert per e-mail address. That cert is "bound" so to speak to that address - if it were possible to obtain another one while a pre-existing certificate was already in circulation, it would break the trust provided.

DaneBrooke · 01-22-2008, 05:20 PM

As I said, I don't know the original issuing authority. How can I revoke without that? (Actually, if I can find out the original issuer, I would be in great shape if I could just get a copy.)

DaneBrooke · 01-23-2008, 04:35 PM

OK, Another problem (partially resolved in another thread here) was preventing me from getting at the original certificate store (I didn't know that at the time I started either thread). I was able to export my/other certificates to disk and then import them to my new store. So I don't need a new one, and don't need to revoke old one, and even got reminded of the original issuing authority in the process. Learned a lot, headache gone, I'm calling it a win.

01-22-2008, 02:49 PM	#1 (permalink)
DaneBrooke Registered User Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Seattle! Posts: 110 OS: Win2000sp4+ My System	digital certificate Until recently I was running Windows 98, and had obtained a digital certificate for signing/encrypting my email. When I upgraded, none of my mail s/w (I use Thunderbird almost exclusively, but tried others) or certificate management s/w could find a valid certificate for me. So I went to Comodo to obtain one, but the process errored out "a digital certificate has already been issued to dnbrooke at msn dot com. Well, apparently I can't have more than one (and I did have one) but I can't find it anywhere, so how am I to proceed? I don't even recall the original issuing authority, but I don't think it was Comodo. Last edited by Glaswegian; 01-22-2008 at 03:12 PM. Reason: Removed e-mail address to avoid spammers

01-22-2008, 05:07 PM	#2 (permalink)
Cellus Moderator Networking Team Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Canada Posts: 2,664 OS: Windows Vista Business SP1, Windows XP Professional SP3 My System	Re: digital certificate If you can not obtain your old digital certificate, it would probably be a good idea to revoke the old one from the CA and obtain a new one. It is a principle security measure in limiting one cert per e-mail address. That cert is "bound" so to speak to that address - if it were possible to obtain another one while a pre-existing certificate was already in circulation, it would break the trust provided. __________________ TSF Networking Team Virus/Trojan/Spyware Removal Help Donate!

01-22-2008, 05:20 PM	#3 (permalink)
DaneBrooke Registered User Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Seattle! Posts: 110 OS: Win2000sp4+ My System	Re: digital certificate As I said, I don't know the original issuing authority. How can I revoke without that? (Actually, if I can find out the original issuer, I would be in great shape if I could just get a copy.) Last edited by DaneBrooke; 01-22-2008 at 05:23 PM. Reason: afterthought

01-23-2008, 04:35 PM	#4 (permalink)
DaneBrooke Registered User Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Seattle! Posts: 110 OS: Win2000sp4+ My System	Re: digital certificate OK, Another problem (partially resolved in another thread here) was preventing me from getting at the original certificate store (I didn't know that at the time I started either thread). I was able to export my/other certificates to disk and then import them to my new store. So I don't need a new one, and don't need to revoke old one, and even got reminded of the original issuing authority in the process. Learned a lot, headache gone, I'm calling it a win.